The regular 2003 album originally priced between $14 to $16 in the stores
is the regular U.S. release. The 2003 limited release is indicated by a higher price ($25),
dark green cover, and typically a sticker indicating its "limited" nature on the front
plastic. The 2003 Internet-only release was available through the label's website and has a
dark red cover and even higher price ($30). The musical contents are the same on all products.

The 2003 trilogy set is essentially the original three albums from the films combined into
one package (with no extra music). The value of the different cover inserts (on the trading
block) is yet to be determined. They could very well end up useless unless you acquire a
whole set of 5 covers.

The 2007 set includes the complete recordings, priced initially for between $55 and $65, and
features the double-sided DVD with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound along with four CDs that
offer 230 minutes from the score in 16-bit stereo sound. Other higher resolution variants on
sound quality exist on the DVD (see review for details).

The 2010 Howe Records album called "The Rarities Archive" was only available
in the back cover of the Doug Adams book The Music of The Lord of the Rings
Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores. That book had an
MSRP of $60 but initially sold new for under $40.

AWARDS

The song "Into the West" won a Golden Globe, a Grammy Award, and an Academy Award.
The score won the same three awards and was nominated for a BAFTA Award.

Buy it... on the 2007 complete set if you seek one of the best
scores of the digital age of film music in a DVD-quality presentation
that will, if you are properly equipped, stun both you and the people
living down the street.

Avoid it... on the 2007 complete set if you do not use a surround
sound system for your regular listening enjoyment and would prefer, in
terms of content, the 72-minute 2003 album of highlights from the
score.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:
(Howard Shore) Destined to be one of the most successful trilogies of
films in the history of cinema, The Lord of the Rings finished
its snapshot succession of yearly sequels with its final chapter, The
Return of the King, in 2003. The film piled on monumental grosses
worldwide and overwhelmed the Academy Awards just a few months later
with one of the best showings by a single film in history. The frenzied
buzz surrounding the films, even in a mainstream population not usually
attracted to the fantasy genre, had defeated strong competition from
both the Harry Potter and The Matrix franchises. Even
hardcore fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and his novels could have had a
difficult time keeping up with all of the merchandise from the trilogy,
including the different cuts of the films themselves, which, like the
previous two entries, were promised with The Return of the King.
Composer Howard Shore had entered this situation many years prior,
knowing full well that his involvement in this trilogy would extend far
beyond the basic duties of a composer on any normal project. Shore
seemed well adjusted to the idea of scoring The Lord of the Rings
in bits and pieces, writing new cues to the scores as additional scenes
were added to the films; he worked closely with director Peter Jackson
under a rambling schedule of additional recording sessions appended to
the scores for the films long after the meat of the originals was
already heard in theatres. In the case of The Return of the King,
Shore recorded the score late in the summer of 2003 but was prepared to
write and record additional material for the production in March of 2004
to accommodate additional scenes on the DVD release of the film. Over
the course of Shore's adventures, from the original viewing of the
shooting locations in New Zealand in 2000 to the last DVD
release in 2004, Shore wrote music with large-scale talents of the
London Philharmonic and London Voices in mind, not to mention his
hand-chosen selection of instrumental and vocal soloists to accentuate
certain concepts along the way with specific tones. Careful planning led
to a score for The Return of the King that merged countless
fragments of ideas hinted at in the previous two scores with the
maturation of old favorites, requiring more patience and attention to
detail than its predecessors.

With the music for The Return of the King, however,
came a higher level of discontent from some listeners, many of whom
pointing to aspects of the third score's production that reduced its
status compared to The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two
Towers. Criticism about the previous two recordings had come from
audiophiles who were unhappy with the echoing, wet recording sound of
the final mix of the orchestra and voices; individual instrumental
performances were washed out to make way for a resounding whole,
arguably improving the sheer mass of sound in some sections while also
degrading solo contributions by lesser-powered elements. For The
Return of the King, the same bass-heavy, echoing sound was utilized,
though to perhaps a slightly lesser extent. Additionally, hardcore fans
of the franchise noticed that with this final entry, more of Shore's
score was either cut from the final version of the film or altered with
an additional take in performance. Many of the score's most prominent
cues in the film did not match the versions heard on the original
soundtrack albums of 2003. Pieces of Shore's most intriguing and
thoughtful cues were often dropped by Jackson or moved into places Shore
had not intended them to be. Some took aim at the voice of Annie Lennox
and the style and instrumental backing of her song. Finally, with the
situation in Middle-earth in near chaos for much of this story, Shore's
music refrains from the kind of singular statements of theme heard in
the first two scores, instead developing them as necessary to represent
their maturation and destinies. Such meticulous devotion to thematic
integration and manipulation is a great study for keenly aware musical
minds, but in terms of basic satisfaction in and apart from the film,
Shore's final score doesn't shine with quite as clearly delineated
ideas. The album presentation also, aside from the obvious existence of
different versions of several cues, was forced to condense a much longer
score (30 to 40 minutes longer than the previous entries) into a
72-minute presentation, casting aside not only the film edits and
relying on Shore's earlier recordings in the process, but not providing
anything close to complete picture of the score. All of these concerns
carry some legitimacy, though The Return of the King also
suffered the disadvantage of aiming to satisfy unrealistic expectations
for most fans, a circumstance that has waned over the years.

The epic scale of the first two scores was obviously
continued in the final chapter, completing Shore and Jackson's notions
that the music was meant to be one massive, single score that had simply
been divided into three parts. With The Return of the King,
however, a case could be made that this third score in the trilogy has
far less in common with its two predecessors than they had with each
other. The Academy Award-winning score for The Fellowship of the
Ring was naturally expanded upon in The Two Towers, with the
second score clearly restating motifs and themes from the first one
while establishing its own new ideas for Rohan, among others. This
process does not carry over into The Return of the King; rather,
since the third film's tumultuous events necessitate the awkward,
fragmented merging of many of the themes into less obvious constructs,
you hear the same stylistic motifs and chord progressions of the series
without the satisfyingly steady statements of previous themes. Rhythms
from one theme are combined with thematic progressions from another, and
themes overlap each other to form almost dissonant mosaics. The themes
commonly considered the identity of the previous scores merge with
others to create new ideas for the next age of Middle-earth, thus
short-changing their original incarnations. You hear many hints,
adaptations, and faint echoes of the previously established ideas, but
the consistency in The Return of the King is executed through the
use of the same instruments, vocals, and, as mentioned before, basic and
common motifs and chord progressions shared by many of the themes. This
technique proved to be potentially disheartening for listeners who
enjoyed the bold new theme for Rohan in The Two Towers and the
concurrent, major statements of the first film's themes as well. Shore
does offer major new themes for two concepts in The Return of the
King, though their relative infrequency in performance diminishes
their attempts to define the new score. The realm of Gondor receives a
theme that is often inverted or otherwise manipulated to represent its
fight, and a sub-theme for Minas Tirith manages to steal the show with
its few monumental performances. A final theme for Grey Havens,
translated into the Annie Lennox song, arrives too late to truly take
the helm of the score.

All three of these major new themes for The Return of
the King existed in faint hints in previous entries, though nearly
any listener to the scores in 2001 and 2002 could not have known the
extent to which Howard would apply these ideas in the last film. The
Gondor fanfare was the most often heard before, developing into its
final trumpet variation in The Two Towers. Its progressions are
often intentionally manipulated by Shore to represent the peril of the
culture as the armies of Mordor approach, though this theme still
receives the most frequent applications of bombast as any in the score.
The specific idea for the city of Minas Tirith is a superior idea that
moves at an accelerated, almost Western-like rhythm as Gandalf rides up
its heights and, most memorably, gloriously accompanies the beacon
lighting sequence. By necessity, of course, this theme is not heard for
much of the second half of the film. The Grey Havens theme makes its
first and surprisingly stunning appearance in full at the end of "The
Mouth of Sauron," as Sam physically carries Frodo to his destiny; it's
arguably the turning point of the score, heralding the beginning of the
end of the tale. The theme then occupies significant time in the
departure scene before closing out the score in the end credits. While
technically the Gondor theme is meant to be the heart of The Return
of the King, it's hard not to be lured back to the Minas Tirith
theme, despite its lesser role. This lack of clear dominance by one new
theme in the score is indeed one of the aforementioned weaknesses of the
work from a listenability standpoint, though one that Shore likely could
(and should) have done nothing about. Almost all of the significant
themes from previous scores do return, despite their transformations.
Among the most adapted elements in The Return of the King are
those for the Shire and the hobbits. The four main themes are tortured
throughout much of the score but receive their salvation in the epilogue
sequence following Sam and Frodo's rescue by the eagles. For the most
part, Shore returns to the original spirit of these themes, and even
conjures a new one for Sam's future. The lovely whistle and flute
performances have lost some of their gleaming shine, but they do exist.
Most interesting, though, is Shore's tragic manipulations of the
concepts for the prologue involving Smeagol and his first encounter with
the ring.

The primary, horn-driven fellowship theme, representing
the entire trilogy and swinging in style and noble intent, is referenced
frequently enough in The Return of the King, maintaining its
overarching status and always following the remainder of the original
fellowship (the three hunters). It develops into a surprisingly massive
choral rendition over the film's final battle sequence. The most
intellectually stimulating developments in The Return of the King
involve the eventual blending of the three themes for the ring itself,
though Shore does continue to allow the ring's history theme to open the
film and guide the narrative while marking the continuing peril for the
hobbits on their journey to Mount Doom. The concepts for Mordor have
overwhelmed the clearly separate music (originally) for Isengard and the
Orcs, though they do cannibalize from each other to such an extent that
some casual listeners may not notice the difference. The domination of
Gollum over Smeagol in the waning moments of the tale cause the
character's pity theme to become only faintly referenced, replaced by
Gollum's menace theme and an even closer tie to the ring's three themes
as he comes closer to achieving his goal. To hear no substantial use of
Gollum's chilling song from The Two Towers remains puzzling,
especially with that character's integral role in the resolution of the
tale. As was apparent by this point, the melodies of the songs heard
over the end credits of the three films were not intended for use in the
other chapters of the trilogy. To say that this lack of crossover isn't
disappointing in the case of "Gollum's Song" would be a lie, because of
the three song melodies, that is really the only one that could have
been applied accurately to all three stories. There was some initial
disappointment about the diminished role for the Rohan fanfare and
Eowyn's sub-themes, though their themes have little to accomplish after
the conclusion of the battle at Minas Tirith. In an interesting move,
the Rohan material, after its few full statements after their peoples'
return to Edoras, combines with the nature's reclamation theme later in
the film. One of the most significantly missed opportunities by Shore in
the trilogy is the substandard theme for the Army of the Dead, failing
to thematically or instrumentally create a truly memorable identity for
them.

On the whole, the massive weight of the music for The
Return of the King, with the absence of as many magnificent,
harmonious thematic placements, falls on the quality of the straight
battle sequences and haunting moments of mystical underscore. Here,
Shore continues to impress. The tonal, rhythmically pleasing action
music, pulsating with full orchestra and chorus to the strong beating of
creative percussion, may not be as strong in a cue to cue comparison
with the Helm's Deep material from The Two Towers, but it still
eclipses nearly anything written in the recent history of film music.
Some of the action pieces were forcefully combined on the first
commercial albums for The Return of the King, causing some
awkward cuts and fades (there are sudden shifts from orchestra to solo
vocal in "The End of All Things" and "Minas Tirith" that are a tad
abrupt due to the assembly of the product). As with the previous scores,
the harmony of these huge cues is occasionally lost, especially with the
Mordor, Orc, Ringwraith, and new Witch King material adopting
increasingly brutal tones in the film's latter half. The intimate parts
of The Return of the King may not raise the hair on your arms
like similar cues in The Two Towers, but the flute performances
by Sir James Galway and others are nevertheless gorgeous. The use of pan
flutes to entail Faramir's sense of doom and gloom for Gondor under
Denethor's rule is very memorable. For listeners who attach themselves
to the extended sequences of softer material, The Return of the
King concludes with over half an hour of music that is pleasantly
harmonic in every second, including the most noble variants of the Shire
music to be heard in the trilogy. The fact that the film rambles on for
far too long in these closing scenes actually works to the benefit of
the score; Sam's final epilogic scene, for instance, offers a new hobbit
theme that ends on a remarkably beautiful descending progression that
definitively closes the book on the story. Also for your compilations,
consider the opening few minutes of the score; the way Shore reverts his
music back to an earlier century and throws in extremely faint hints of
Mordor and Smeagol's pity theme are remarkable, and the use of a
singular, creaky old violin to depict the origins of the ring's history
theme is brilliant.

The Annie Lennox song, "Into the West," is a well-written
piece with decent lyrics. The songs have gone from a new-age affect
(with Enya) and a dark-musical effect (Gollum) to finally a very light
pop-effect set by faint guitars for this entry. The orchestral backing
of the song isn't as impressive as hoped, with some brass counterpoint
halfway through as the only substantial accompaniment. Lennox's voice
works well in her lower ranges, but is perhaps too harsh and
contemporary for the upper ones. It may have been more effective had
someone with a softer, fairy-tale whisper of tone, such as Natalie
Merchant, or one with operatic grace, such as Sissel, had performed this
finale. Overall, the Lennox performance caps off a score with
spectacular orchestral and vocal recordings, and yet that same Lennox
tone of voice represents a larger feeling of displacement in the score.
Not even the half hour of resolution can compensate for this intangible
problem. As a stand-alone score, The Return of the King has
always been a superb effort, but when you pull back and compare it to
Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, you can't help
but feel unsatisfied by the lack of distinct highlights that made the
previous two entries so consistently attractive. Those highlights are
less frequent in The Return of the King, and for the sake of
listeners interested in a quick summary of the cues, the following
analysis will assist in illuminating these parts. The following track
titles refer to those found on the superior, complete score offering of
The Return of the King in 2007, and, more specifically, the set's
24-bit DVD presentation. The opening "Roots and Beginnings," as
mentioned already, offers the genesis of the ring's themes and is
frightfully tragic in its gracious, humble beginning and terrifying
conclusion. The ring's history theme continues to haunt "Journey to the
Crossroads," with the hobbits' primary pensive theme struggling to
assert itself on woodwinds. Another cue of little consequence is the
conversational "The Road to Isengard," which explores a slightly more
upbeat variation on the hobbits' material for Merry and Pippin, as well
as few fellowship theme statements. The music of Isengard dies with
resounding bass region resilience in "The Foot of Orthanc," a tense, but
satisfying and melodramatic cue.

The Hardanger fiddle's conveyance of the glory of Rohan is
resurrected briefly in "Return to Edoras," while Eowyn's material is
delicately explored in the subdued "The Chalice Passed" before the
source singing of "The Green Dragon" abruptly interrupts with a burst of
obnoxious hobbit enthusiasm. The familiar tones of the cimbalom
performing Gollum's menace theme open a harrowing tone that continues
the battle between this idea, the creature's pity theme, and those of
the ring. Shore goes back to the Eowyn music in the brief and uneventful
"Eowyn's Dream." For Pippin's terrifying vision sequence, Shore tumbles
through extremely metallic and grating Mordor variants and mutations of
the ring's themes. After a slow start, the pace of the score picks up
finally in "Flight from Edoras," concluded by resolute performances of
the Gandalf the White and fellowship themes. The first truly stunning
cue in the score, and a must-have on any compilation from the work, is
"The Grace of Undomiel," which opens with a gorgeous, lower-pitched voice
performing the Elves' Evenstar theme. The transferring of this theme to
the orchestra represents a shift for Arwen and her mortality, and the
ensemble takes up the theme in conjunction with a mechanical brass
performance of the Minas Tirith theme as the sword of the King of Gondor
is reshaped. The Gondor theme, in two different inversions, follows with
galloping urgency, and this is one of the theme's two grand performances in
the score that are not to be missed. The Minas Tirith theme whimpers by
comparison as Gandalf and Pippin prepare to meet with Denethor. A battle
within the brass section to regain the heroism of the Gondor theme is a
highlight in the second half of "The Eyes of the White Tower." Fragments
of the hobbit and Gondor themes struggle in "A Coronet of Silver and
Gold" until the combined force of the Mordor, Isengard, Orc, and ring's
evil themes explodes as Sam, Frodo, and Gollum come upon Minas Morgul.
The choral and brass tones of this relentless evil is more difficult to
grasp than the original mutation of the same idea in "The Caves of
Isengard" in the first score; the tone is more dissonant, shrieking, and
horrifying here, making for a difficult listening experience. The cue
does earn some of the score's best style points in terms of potentially
awakening an entire city block of your neighbors in the middle of the
night.

Undoubtedly, the second half of "The Lighting of the
Beacons," as with "The Grace of Undomiel," is a necessary piece for
compilations. As Pippin lights the fire of the beacon at Minas Tirith,
Shore unleashes an orchestral crescendo of unparalleled heroism that
culminates in the score's most prominent use of the Gondor theme. The
response by Rohan prompts the score's most buoyant performance of that
theme late in the same cue, though shortly it has merged with the
nature's reclamation theme to form a remarkable pairing. The lengthy
battle music of "Osgilliath Invaded" does not compete favorably with the
material from the previous two scores, despite some ballsy low brass for
the Nazgul and a boy soprano performance of the Gandalf the White theme
at the end. The suspense of "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" and lament of
"Allegiance to Denethor" would be unremarkable if not for the brief and
solemn pan flute performances in the latter. These performances extend
into "The Sacrifice of Faramir," though the source singing in this piece
intrudes into the growing panic of the remainder of the cue. The
cimbalom once again announces Gollum's menace theme in "The Parting of
Sam and Frodo" and the confrontation is served the expected pieces of
ring themes before closing with soft sadness in the Shire material for
Sam. Forceful Rohan theme performances, alternating on brass and fiddle,
are the only highlight of "Marshalling at Dunharrow." The same
combination of Rivendell and Minas Tirith material heard in Arwen's
fateful scene earlier returns with greater strength in "Anduril - Flame
of the West." Hints of the fellowship, Rohan, and Eowyn themes tangle
without resolve in "The Passing of the Grey Company," and the deep male
voices of the Army of the Dead add depth to "Dwimorberg - The Haunted
Mountain," though the cue is otherwise not as foreboding as it could
have been. The short "Master Meriadoc, Swordthain" concludes with a
pulsating brass tribute to Rohan that offers the first excitement in
quite a while. Unfortunately, the dull and dissonant tones for the dead
army in "The Paths of the Dead" breaks the mood. "The Siege of Gondor"
attempts to repeat the glory of The Two Towers action material,
though without the same harmonious gravity, the cue is a disappointment.
While the tone of the extremely harsh brass is appropriate, there is
little cohesiveness to grasp onto in the listening experience.

That same disappointment extends to the material
involving Shelob the spider in both "Shelob's Lair" and "Shelob the
Great," marking a large hole in the appeal of the album's middle portion
(despite Shore's creative nod to the eight-legged beast by representing
her with an eight-note theme). In between the two scenes of Frodo's
encounters with Shelob, "Merry's Simple Courage" and "Grond - The Hammer
of the Underworld" do little to pull the score out of its lapse. A
choral confluence of the ring's history and evil themes accompanies the
madness of Denethor in "The Tomb of the Stewards," though once again
there is little in the cue to recall. Shore finally summons the
cohesiveness of the action material from the previous film in "The
Battle of the Pelennor Fields," when the Rohan theme formally yields to
the nature's reclamation theme as they arrive for the fight; the
Hardanger and brass form a strong duet for the initial clash of Rohirrim
and Orcs. Following the fiery demise of Denethor in "The Pyre of
Denethor," the score returns to the battle with glorious choral layers
of harmony, and after the singular and unimpressive "The Mumakil," Shore
launches into a rhythmic burst of energy at the start of "Dernhelm in
Battle" that deserves repeat enjoyment. A respite from the action is
provided in "A Far Green Country," which softly foreshadows the Grey
Havens theme for the first time in this score. The battle at Minas
Tirith comes to a climax in "Shieldmaiden of Rohan," a piece that, while
featuring some of the treacherous brass tones of Mordor, transforms into
a heroic piece representing some of the most attractive action music in
The Return of the King. The material for Eowyn and the next age
receive compelling treatment in "The Passing of Theoden," and choir
graces both this and "The Houses of Healing" with a breath of fresh air
after all the dense, less harmonious material heard in the previous half
hour. Aside from the transformation of the hobbit material into a heroic
fanfare in its mid-section, the action of "The Tower of Cirith Ungol" is
again somewhat anonymous in the larger canvas. As the decision to march
to the Black Gate is made in "The Last Debate," Shore combines phrases
of the Gondor and Rohan themes to create a new identity for the world of
men. Soft woodwinds and Sissel's always incredible voice finish the cue
on a contemplative note.

The final, darkest chapter of the journey in The
Return of the King begins with the ultra low-register performances
of the Mordor and Orc material in "The Land of Shadow," though the
latter half of the cue is surprisingly subdued given the gravity of what
is about the happen; it plays like the calm before a storm. The same
ominous pauses apply to the start of "The Mouth of Sauron," with only
Aragorn's heroics leading a rhythmic charge that stirs life into the
ensemble. Lines of the Gondor and fellowship themes accompany the
attempts to distract Sauron's eye while solo whistle helps drive the
hobbits on the final leg of their journey. With a slow choral crescendo
meant to represent Sam's loyalty to Frodo, Shore unleashes the score's
only heroic performance of the Grey Havens theme, passed between brass
members with resolve. Both this cue and "For Frodo" are necessary
inclusions in any compilation of music from The Return of the
King, for the latter cue contains a massively religious, choral
rendition of the fellowship theme that announces the battle at the Black Gate.
The appearance of the eagles is greeted with a short performance of the
nature's reclamation theme as well. Tension in dissonant string layers
defines the beginning of "Mount Doom," and as Frodo finally succumbs to
the ring, Shore overlaps all of the ring themes into one dizzying
frenzy. The monumental Mount Doom theme explodes in full ensemble and
chorus when this happens, extending for several minutes as Gollum
returns to the equation. As the creature succeeds in finally reacquiring
his precious ring, a solo voice gives the ring one last, elegant chance
at survival. As Gollum is pitched over the edge, the Mount Doom chant is
given one last burst. The strongly harmonic theme of victory (for the
destruction of the ring) in "The Crack of Doom" is another highlight of
the score, ushering in Shore's most noble statements of fourth-age
themes over several minutes as Mordor and his armies are destroyed. The
cue closes with a mournful return to the beautiful Gandalf's Farewells
theme as the wizard worries about the fate of the hobbits, though even
at this moment of hope, the ring's history theme makes one last
appearance on violins as counterpoint. The subsequent "The Eagles" is an
extension of the Gandalf's Farewells theme, resulting in a solo vocal
performance that will indeed send chills up your spine.

The original 2003 (regular) album's insert includes notes from director Peter Jackson
and composer Howard Shore. Also featured are lyrics from each of the ensemble vocal segments
from the score, as well as the Annie Lennox song. Various useless goodies add to the cost of
the 2003 limited album. For details about the differences between these releases, see the
label's site:
http://lordoftherings-soundtrack.com/editions.html.

The trilogy 2003 set includes general notes about the trilogy. The 2007 complete set features
a 45-page booklet with extraordinary notation about the music by Film Score Monthly regular
Doug Adams. That final set includes extensive packaging extras, with the four regular audio
CDs existing in a smaller case that can be stored separately from the massive book-like
exterior.

A detailed, track-by-track analysis (a supplement to the notes on the complete 2007 set) is
available in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format for download from Warner Brothers at the following URL:
http://www.lordoftherings-soundtrack.com/rotk_annotated_score.pdf. This additional material,
as in the previous scores' sets, was not included in the product itself because of cost
restrictions due to the booklet size. There is no guarantee that this file will continue to
exist at that location, so dedicated fans should download it at their earliest convenience. It
was still active at that location in late 2008.

There exists no actual packaging for the Howe Records album contained
within the 2010 Adams book. It is initially difficult to extract the CD
from its paper sleeve because they are glued tightly to the inside of
the back cover.